Selection of an ERP consultant is definitely and important and time consuming process for any company especially for small to mid-size organizations. These organizations cannot afford large consultancies and they also cannot handle ERP implementations on their own. Questions which small and mid-size businesses must consider while making choice of an ERP consultant are:
Should You Consider Completely Independent ERP Consultants?
Few ERP consultants favor specific ERP due to their own benefits and this trend has certainly increased now. You need to make sure that your ERP consultant is not receiving any kind of incentive on specific software which you implement or purchase. You need to make choice of consultants who are not resellers and who don’t take referral fees from vendors as this is a common tactic by many vendors.
Do your ERP Consultant Possess Broad Experience?
Some ERP consultants pass the initial test but they don’t have understanding of different ERP systems either because they are short of experience or because their focus is narrow with different options available in the market. Small to mid-size organizations must give special consideration to this aspect as they usually have to give more importance to the myriad of industry specific options. You need to ask your consultant about his/her hands-on experience and also about the projects which they have evaluated over the years.
How much innovative and robust is the methodology of your ERP Consultant?
You need to consider the methodology of your ERP consultant as it is a key differentiator and point of value for best ERP consultants. No person can fine tune methodology even if he/she has plenty of experience or talent. Robust methodology is important as no one has the level of understanding to change the methodology later. You need to make sure that your ERP consultant has a comprehensive and well defined methodology to minimize the risks associated with ERP.
These few questions need to be asked from the ERP consultants while hiring them for small or mid-scale organizations and it is important to leverage an efficient framework which best fits your organization needs.
